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By the way …

Hi there! Welcome to my blog. I am known by my pseudonym, Nasifriet, a concatenated word blend of the Malay or Indonesian word Nasi (rice) and the Flemish or Dutch word Friet (fries). I was born and raised in Sarawak a.k.a the Land of the Hornbills, which is one of the 13 states in Malaysia. I moved to Belgium in the autumn of 1995. My other half is a Belgian (Flemish) and I have 2 sons. I work fulltime by day and blog whenever I have the time, energy and inspiration. If you don’t see my posts published for ages, chances are I’m dog-tired after a hard day at work or I’m on holiday :-D. Unfortunately, most of the time, it’s the former . When I started this blog on 27th March 2010, I was clue-less about the genre of my blog. Let’s just say that the gist of my blog are the day-to-day stories I picked up at work, at home, on holiday, networking with friends and most of all, my reminiscence of my childhood days growing up in Kuching. Every single post on my blog, including my cooking adventure, has that special story to share and BY THE WAY… is my catch phrase I used in my post ;-)

If you like reading my posts – my personal stories – please leave your thought(s) in the comment box. Your comment will be personally attended to by yours truly ;-)

Cheers!

Disclaimer -
The images and texts on this blog belong exclusively to the author, Nasifriet of
https://nasifriet.wordpress.com/, unless otherwise stated. All work on this blog cannot be used or reproduced without the prior consent of the author. Unfortunately, she has found several texts and ideas belonging to her reproduced on other blogs without her permission. The author requests for a pingback or link up to her blog in case of any reproduction, otherwise, it is an act of plagiarism. Give credit where credit is due

Accidental “Kolo Mee” somewhere in the South of France…

Gosh! It’s been over a month since we thumbed through yesteryear! Seemed like eons ago 😀

Wow! My first post anno 2013, which I think is something worth mentioning, innit? Fortunately or unfortunately, we did not have a white Christmas last year. The temperatures were quite mild last December; however, they did not last long until fluffy white flakes of snow carpeted the entire land. We had a freezing January month, which went for days and then weeks and again encompassing February…

Boy, was I longing for something warm. My thought darted to the warm and sunny summer in 2010. It was an extraordinary summer because my Mum and my younger sister came to visit us.

This photo of my Mum and sister has been on my ‘to-post’ list for a long time. The photo was taken in Lourdes.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

Our summer 2010 saw us heading South West France, direction Castillon-Debats in the region of Midi-Pyrénées. We rented a holiday villa for two weeks. The villa was surrounded by acres and acres of land filled with floras. The following photos will give you an idea of our summer hideout.

Dining-in

And by the way, being Asian, the kitchen is an important domain. A normal greeting by a Sarawakian – or any Asian, I believe – would be any of the following:

Lu chiak pa boi? < Kuching Hokkien>

Ngi shi(k) pau mang? <Kuching Hakka>

Dah makan tek? < Sarawak Malay>

Ngak keman? <Mukah Melanau>

The exotic sounding phrases meant one thing in common, and that is simply, “Have you eaten?” Well, that’s how one Sarawakian greets another Sarawakian, and not necessarily from the Chinese origin only.

Food is where the heart is 😛

Ooops, sorry for the sidetrack; now back to Castillon-Debats…

I cooked almost everyday from Spaghetti Bolognese to Chicken Ratatouille. It was almost always a one-dish meal, by the way, to keep things simple and wholesome.

I made sure we had different dish everyday, and each day was complimented with the freshest of the fresh vegetables of the region! They were in abundance in every nook and cranny, hence, no problem there 🙂

Last Supper

I opened the refrigerator. It was almost empty. Well, that was the idea as it was our last day in Castillon-Debats. Slowly but surely, we cleaned up the fridge and the pantry.

On the last day, I found two courgettes (zucchinis) and a packet of unopened chorizo in the fridge. In the kitchen pantry, there was a packet of uncooked spaghetti. In an earthen pot next to the hob was a whole bulb of garlic. And of course the indispensable bottle of olive oil, salt and pepper.

I put all the items together but sautéing each component separately, frying first the minced garlic (I used the entire bulb!) and then removed them when they turned slightly brown. With the garlic oil, I dropped in the thinly sliced courgettes, stir frying for a few minutes and removed from the pan immediately. Then in went the sliced chorizo. The oil from the chorizo simply oozed out giving the most amazing smoky aroma and the red colour. Once the chorizo became a little bit crusty, I removed them from the pan. Finally in went the cooked spaghetti. I tossed and turned the spaghetti in the chorizo-garlic oil making sure the pasta strings are combined completely. When the spaghetti was starting to get warm, I tossed in all the three sautéed components (garlic, courgette and chorizo), and finally some salt and pepper to taste. I drizzled some olive oil before serving.

Et voilà!

When my sister took the first bite of the Spagetthi Chorizo ala Nasifriet, she exclaimed, “Sis, you know what, this reminds me of kolo mee!” LOL!

I will never forget THE day; the day I cooked up the “Accidental Kolo Mee” in a small village in the south of France.

I tried making this spaghetti chorizo back in Belgium, using the same ingredients, but somehow, they tasted a bit different. Nevertheless, I will never forget my sister’s remark that summer day in 2010. “Kolo Mee” the Pyreneeën way! Ha ha!

Oh by the way, to all my Chinese readers, friends and families everywhere, I wish you a happy, healthy, successful and prosperous Chinese New Year 2013!

Sin Chia Joo Ee! Kong Hee Fatt Choy! We just got back from Rome!!! Did not have Chinese, because when in Rome, we have to do what the Romans do. We tried the local foods, some good and great and others, so-so. We were having lunch on Monday when we heard of the Pope’s announcement..

Hope you had a fantastic CNY. Bet Kiefer got lots n lots of angpow 🙂
C U all back in BE soon..

Gong Xi Fa Cai! Angpow gia lai..Ha ha ha! Did Alex get an angpow from you?
BTW, we just got back from Rome, hence the silence for a while. We did not see many Chinese restos in the centre, or maybe we did and weren’t aware they were Chinese restos 😦 Have you been to Rome? You should as it’s a nice city.